The Western Australia Rugby League has announced that the name they will use for their National Rugby League expansion team will be the West Coast Pirates.
Previously the Western Australia Rugby League had used the name Western Reds, Perth Reds, then WA Reds, but obviously they decided to go in a different direction for their re-entry into the National Rugby League.
It is expected that the National Rugby League will announce their plans for expansion towards the end of the year when negotiations for the next broadcasting deal have been completed.
The West Coast Pirates logo is this:
The WARL also launched a new web site for the team at http://westcoastpirates.com.au/ so go check it out.
Western Australia has a booming economy, they are in a great time zone as far as television goes and the WARL is a very good lower grade competition that is already producing NRL players. They should be the next team added to the NRL and the sooner they get the green light, the better.
Now, a few hours after the WARL made their announcement, Perth businessman Tony Sage stepped forward with what is becoming a faily, negative campaign towards the WARL’s bid for an NRL team.
Sage is the owner of the Perth Glory A League team. He has partnered with former Balmain hooker Benny Elias, and the two have gone out of their way to try and hijack the WARL bid.
At one point they appointed themselves as self proclaimed spokesmen for the WARL bid, to the point where the WARL had to come out and explain that Sage and Elias had nothing to do with the WARL bid!
Sage, in an interview with News Limited publication Perth Now has claimed his bid was ahead of the WARL bid (Which is rubbish) and has said he will guarantee $100 million over 10 years towards a team he will own.
My guess is, he is only making the same offer Nathan Tinkler did towards the Knights. Basically if the clubs falls below a certain level of funding, he will make up the shortfall. The kicker is that, with the new TV deal coming in, the clubs will never fall below the threshold set. Therefore, I could make the same $100 million gaurantee and never actually have to pay a cent.
Nice one Tony. I guess it will get you a headline.
Sage claimed the NRL did not want a team owned by the WARL owning a club because at the end of the day the WARL is part of the ARL. He then said if he gets a club, he will make Benny Elias the CEO.
If only Sage showed this much interest in the Perth Glory, the soccer club he already owns, and who he has threatened to walk away from in the recent past…
When it comes down to it, the WARL have invested 10 years into their bid. They have worked at every level of the game to set an incredible foundation for a new NRL club and have worked with the NRL and WA Government for years to be in the position they are on today.
Sage and Elias are a non factor.
Back to the Pirates, there are a few things they have to do to make this a complete success.
They must have cannons that fire every time the team scores. They can only have one captain and at some point he must be pictured with a parrot on his shoulder. They need to give away a free eye patch to every kid under 10 years of age that attends their games.
At the end of the day, a teams name isn’t that important as long as they are winning games. You could call a team the “Butt Munchers”, if they are winnings games they will be popular.
The WARL has chosen a bold name and logo for their re-entry into the NRL. Now it is time for the ARL to show some leadership and foresight and give them the green light so that they can put the finishing touches to their newly formed club and get a head start on recruitment.
